Extinction Rebellion announces suspending its blocking operations – RT in French

In a press release, Extinction Rebellion announced that it would suspend its controversial actions in the United Kingdom in 2023. The organization wants to mobilize for a large demonstration against government inaction outside Parliament in London in April.

As Reuters reports, Extinction Rebellion announced on January 1 that it was temporarily halting its UK punchline operations.

“This year, we are prioritizing participation over arrests, relationships over roadblocks,” the organization wrote in a statement titled “We quit [nous arrêtons]”. She now considers it “necessary” to change “tactics” but intends to “disrupt the abuse of power” by putting pressure on the political class to put an end to the use of fossil fuels.

To do this, Extinction Rebellion calls in particular for a large demonstration on April 21 in front of the British Parliament and hopes to bring together 100,000 people.

The organization has regularly made the news by carrying out controversial actions in several European countries, in particular to denounce the inaction of governments in the face of climate change and thus alert public opinion.

In France, Extinction Rebellion notably blocked the TotalEnergies depot in Mardyck, near Dunkirk, in November to protest against the fossil fuel industry. A few days earlier, 33 activists from the environmental movement and Attac had been placed in police custody for having tried to break into Le Bourget airport in Seine-Saint-Denis in order to prevent the take-off of private jets.

More recently, several of its activists had proceeded on December 6 to block the entrance to the Ministry of Ecology. Dressed in Santa Claus costumes with fake white beards, the activists had deployed a “Stop ecocide” barrier and poured colored liquid on stuffed animals piled up in front of the door of the institution.